Bodies Behind a Strip Mall: Crime Watch Daily on the William Devin Howell Case, Part 1 (2017)

Name: Bodies Behind a Strip Mall: Crime Watch Daily on the William Devin Howell Case, Part 1 (2017)
Uploaded: 2018-01-05T00:00:00Z
Duration: 5 min 54 s
Description: The first part of Crime Watch Daily's report on the New Britain strip-mall murders: the discovery of the remains, a victim's daughter, author Anne K. Howard's research, and the van that led police to William Devin Howell.

The first part of Crime Watch Daily's report on the New Britain strip-mall murders: the discovery of the remains, a victim's daughter, author Anne K. Howard's research, and the van that led police to William Devin Howell.

Subject: William Devin Howell
Recorded: about December 2017
Runtime: 5:54

Content warning: Concerns the murders of seven people in Connecticut in 2003 and the discovery of their remains; mentions rape and strangulation; no graphic detail.

The Interview

This is a television news report, the first of three parts of a Crime Watch Daily with Chris Hansen story first broadcast around January 2018, with correspondent Nerissa Knight. It is not an interview with William Devin Howell. He is heard only in three short teaser clips, about 15 seconds in all, taken from the telephone interview that airs in part 3. The report itself sets out the case: the discovery of human remains behind a strip mall in New Britain, Connecticut, the identification of three women, the memories of one victim's daughter, the research of author and attorney Anne K. Howard, and the investigation of Nilsa Arizmendi's disappearance that first led police to Howell.

Historical Context

In 2003 seven people disappeared from the New Britain, Hartford and Waterbury areas of Connecticut. Howell, a Virginia man then living in Connecticut, was linked to the disappearance of Nilsa Arizmendi by DNA found in his van; he was arrested in Hampton, Virginia, in May 2005, and in January 2007 he entered an Alford plea to first-degree manslaughter and was sentenced to 15 years. Human remains were found in woods behind a New Britain strip mall in 2007 and again in 2015. In 2015 he was charged with six murders, and on September 8, 2017, he pleaded guilty. On November 17, 2017, he was sentenced to six consecutive life terms, a total of 360 years.

Circumstances of the Recording

Crime Watch Daily, a syndicated daytime program from Telepictures, uploaded the story to its YouTube channel in three parts on January 5, 2018. Part 1 opens with a montage of news lines and teasers, then follows Knight's narration through the case. Anne K. Howard, who wrote about the case on her blog and later corresponded with Howell, appears on camera, and the part ends with a teaser of her walk-through at a McDonald's parking lot in New Britain.

What the Interview Covers

The narration describes a hunter's discovery of a skull in the woods and the recovery of the remains of three women, identified as Diane Cusack, 53, Joyvaline Martinez, 23, and Mary Jane Menard, 40. Menard's daughter Tiffany, 18 at the time, remembers the last time she saw her mother. The narration says a witness saw Menard getting into a dark van driven by a man named Bill. Howard describes how she came across the case online and started a blog about it. The report then turns to Nilsa Arizmendi, 33, of Wethersfield, last seen getting into a dark blue van; the van was traced to Howell, a bloodstain in it matched her DNA, and he took a plea deal for manslaughter. In the teasers Howell says "It's not like it was a beast that was driving me" and that his fantasy was "about just raping", and that he killed "to try to cover up" his crime.

What Makes the Recording Significant

The report records how the case looked from the outside after the 2017 guilty pleas, with the voices of a victim's daughter and of the author who followed the case for years. Its account of the Arizmendi investigation and the van evidence sets up the interview that follows in part 3.

Archival Importance

Together with parts 2 and 3, this part preserves the Crime Watch Daily story on the case as the program published it online, including the family testimony and the background that frame Howell's own words in part 3.

Important Caveats

Howell is heard only in teaser clips; the interview is in part 3. The program's title, "Serial Killer Speaks", applies to the story as a whole, not to this part. The opening montage mixes narration and what sound like archive news lines, and several short lines by officials could not be attributed from the machine text. The woman to whom the van was registered is a private person and is not named here. The recording date and first broadcast date are inferred.

Opening Montage: The bodies are piling up. The seventh victim has now been positively identified. Seven dead in six months. The most notorious serial killer in the state of Connecticut's history.

Nerissa Knight: And now the murderer responsible, Connecticut's most prolific serial killer, is spilling his secrets.

William Devin Howell: It's not like it was a beast that was driving me to commit these crimes.

Nerissa Knight: Crime Watch Daily speaks to the real-life mindhunter who got inside the head of the madman.

Anne K. Howard: He would confess in detail all of his crimes to me.

Nerissa Knight: And then we talked to the killer himself.

William Devin Howell: The fantasy was about just raping. I killed [unclear: "him" / "them"] to try to cover up my [unclear: "crime" / "problem"].

Nerissa Knight: It's late summer when a hunter makes his way into the central Connecticut woods. The brush and weeds are thick, but there's an open patch just ahead, and something has been unearthed.

Unnamed Speaker: [unclear: "A hunter was behind here" / "A hunter, I was behind here"] looking for a place to hunt and found the first skull.

Nerissa Knight: But not the last. When New Britain police arrive on scene, they quickly uncover what appears to be a mass grave, buried within, the mutilated remains of three women.

Unnamed Official: [unclear: "There were" / "They were"] somebody's loved one. They were somebody's daughter, somebody's sister.

Nerissa Knight: The first body to be identified is that of 53-year-old Diane Cusack. Jane Doe number two is found to be another local girl, 23-year-old Joyvaline Martinez, just weeks away from her 24th birthday when she disappeared. The third and last of the remains to be ID'd are those of 40-year-old mother Mary Jane Menard. As it turns out, all three women disappeared during the same six-month time span years before, a time Mary Jane Menard's daughter Tiffany will never forget.

Tiffany: She was the rock of the family.

Nerissa Knight: Tiffany, just 18 at the time, still relives those final moments with her mom.

Tiffany: Leaving my house, [unclear: "I said" / "they said"] goodbye and we hugged, and never thought that it would be the last time I saw her. [unclear: "We had no idea" / "You had no idea"].

Nerissa Knight: No idea the terror she would face. According to a witness, Mary Jane Menard was last seen getting into a, quote, "black or blue van" being driven by a man named Bill. But that appears to be as far as the investigation got. And for years, the case seems to live on only in the occasional article online. That's when local attorney turned true crime writer Anne Howard stumbles, or rather clicks, her way into the story.

Anne K. Howard: I was researching online about some cold case murders not far from where I lived, and every time I researched, this story about bodies being found behind a strip mall in New Britain, Connecticut, came, kept coming up on my news feed, and [unclear: "can't help but wonder" / "I can't help but wonder"]: who is this monster who has yet to be arrested for the murders of these people being found behind a suburban strip mall on a busy roadway not far from where I live? And I started a blog about it, and I started researching cold cases and unsolved murders. The blog evolved into writing solely about this case.

Nerissa Knight: While digging into the story on her blog, entitled Serial Murders in Connecticut, Ann starts to wonder if those three bodies are the only bodies, especially when another local crime catches her eye.

Anne K. Howard: I became quite intrigued.

Nerissa Knight: It's the disappearance of 33-year-old Nilsa Arizmendi from the neighboring town of Wethersfield, Connecticut, and it happened during the exact same time period that the other three women disappeared. But that's not the only similarity. Her boyfriend told police that he last saw her getting into a van, a dark blue van, to be precise. But unlike the other women, Nilsa's case has been solved.

Unnamed Official: Information was developed with respect to a van matching the description given by Nilsa's boyfriend. That van was registered to (Howell's then-girlfriend, name withheld). It was learned that (her) boyfriend was named William Devin Howell. And according to his girlfriend's parents, Howell had recently purchased the van from them for $400. Processing the van revealed a bloodstain on the vertical back cushion of the middle seat of the van.

Nerissa Knight: Police send it to the state crime lab for testing, and when the results come back:

Unnamed Official: DNA of Arizmendi was found in [unclear: "his" / "this"] van.

Nerissa Knight: William Howell is arrested in connection to Nilsa's disappearance. Even though cops don't have a body, Howell takes a plea deal for manslaughter and gets 15 years. But then, that was before police found those other bodies.

Unnamed Speaker: Red flags are all over it.

Nerissa Knight: Coming up:

Anne K. Howard: He would duct tape their mouths so that no one would hear them making any noises.

Nerissa Knight: A serial killer revealed, along with more victims. And later:

Nerissa Knight: What happened? What made you cross the line?

Nerissa Knight: The predator speaks from behind bars, telling me why he's unlike any who's come before.

William Devin Howell: This may make me even more sinister, but...

Nerissa Knight: And what's significant about where we're standing right now?

Anne K. Howard: This is the location in the corner of the McDonald's parking lot in New Britain where the serial killer William Devin Howell raped and strangled three of his victims.

Nerissa Knight: [unclear: "Where we're standing?" / "We were standing"]

Anne K. Howard: Absolutely. ---